The people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
Jonah 3:5
What happened in Nineveh was remarkable. This kind of transformation does not always happen when we bring God’s message. Why not?
There’s God’s Word, and there’s God’s man or woman, but there is also God’s time. You can’t force that. But you can pray for it. You never know when He is going to change a person’s life.
Some may say, “We should just sit back and let God do what He wants to do in His own time.” No! Revival is God’s gift. Evangelism is His command. We don’t sit back and wait for God’s moment. We follow Jonah’s example. We bring God’s Word, and we pray that in His mercy He will move in the hearts of those who hear.
Some question if there was a genuine revival in Nineveh. One generation later, the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom of Israel, and God’s people scattered. A century later, Nineveh was destroyed. That’s what the prophecy of Nahum is about—God’s judgement on the city.
In heaven, you will meet many people who lived in Nineveh during the time of Jonah. But you may not meet many who lived there a century later. When Jonah went to Nineveh, it was God’s time for that great city.
All we can do is offer all that we are and all that we have for the advance of the gospel in our time. Every generation stands responsible before God for what we have done with the sacred trust of the gospel.
Are you sitting back and waiting for God’s moment, or are you offering all you have for the advance of the gospel?
